Constitution of the United States of America/Annotated/Introduction/Civil War Amendments (Thirteenth, Fourteenth, and Fifteenth Amendments)

Amendment XIII.

Section 1

Neither slavery nor involuntary servitude, except as a punishment for crime whereof the party shall have been duly convicted, shall exist within the United States, or any place subject to their jurisdiction.

Section 2

Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The Thirteenth Amendment^[1] was proposed by Congress on January 31, 1865 when it passed the House,^[2] having previously passed the Senate on April 8, 1864.^[3] It appears officially in 13 Stat. 567 under the date of February 1, 1865. Ratification was completed on December 6, 1865, when the legislature of the twenty-seventh state (Georgia) approved the Amendment, there being then thirty-six states in the Union. On December 18, 1865, Secretary of State William Seward certified that the Thirteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution.^[4]

The several state legislatures ratified the Thirteenth Amendment on the following dates: Illinois, February 1, 1865; Rhode Island, February 2, 1865; Michigan, February 2, 1865; Maryland, February 3, 1865; New York, February 3, 1865; West Virginia, February 3, 1865; Missouri, February 6, 1865; Maine, February 7, 1865; Kansas, February 7, 1865; Massachusetts, February 7, 1865; Pennsylvania, February 8, 1865; Virginia, February 9, 1865; Ohio, February 10, 1865; Louisiana, February 15 or 16, 1865; Indiana, February 16, 1865; Nevada, February 16, 1865; Minnesota, February 23, 1865; Wisconsin, February 24, 1865; Vermont, March 9, 1865 (date on which it was approved by Governor); Tennessee, April 7, 1865; Arkansas, April 14, 1865; Connecticut, May 4, 1865; New Hampshire, June 30, 1865; South Carolina, November 13, 1865; Alabama, December 2, 1865 (date on which it was approved by Provisional Governor); North Carolina, December 4, 1865; Georgia, December 6, 1865; Oregon, December 11, 1865; California, December 15, 1865; Florida, December 28, 1865 (Florida again ratified this Amendment on June 9, 1868, upon its adoption of a new constitution); Iowa, January 17, 1866; New Jersey, January 23, 1866 (after having rejected the Amendment on March 16, 1865); Texas, February 17, 1870; Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the Amendment of February 8, 1865). The Amendment was rejected by Kentucky on February 24, 1865, and by Mississippi on December 2, 1865.

Amendment XIV.

Section 1

All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside. No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge the privileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.

Section 2

Representatives shall be apportioned among the several States according to their respective numbers, counting the whole number of persons in each State, excluding Indians not taxed. But when the right to vote at any election for the choice of electors for President and Vice-President of the United States, Representatives in Congress, the Executive and Judicial officers of a State, or the members of the Legislature thereof, is denied to any of the male inhabitants of such State, being twenty-one years of age, and citizens of the United States, or in any way abridged, except for participation in rebellion, or other crime, the basis of representation therein shall be reduced in the proportion which the number of such male citizens shall bear to the whole number of male citizens twenty-one years of age in such State.

Section 3

No Person shall be a Senator or Representative in Congress, or elector of President and Vice-President, or hold any office, civil or military, under the United States, or under any State, who, having previously taken an oath, as a member of Congress, or as an officer of the United States, or as a member of any State legislature, or as an executive or judicial officer of any State, to support the Constitution of the United States, shall have engaged in insurrection or rebellion against the same, or given aid or comfort to the enemies thereof. But Congress may by a vote of two-thirds of each House, remove such disability.

Section 4

The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, including debts incurred for payment of pensions and bounties for services in suppressing insurrection or rebellion, shall not be questioned. But neither the United States nor any State shall assume or pay any debt or obligation incurred in aid of insurrection or rebellion against the United States, or any claim for the loss or emancipation of any slave; but all such debts, obligations and claims shall be held illegal and void.

Section 5

The Congress shall have the power to enforce, by appropriate legislation, the provisions of this article.

The Fourteenth Amendment^[5] was proposed by Congress on June 13, 1866 when it passed the House,^[6] having previously passed the Senate on June 8.^[7] It appears officially in 14 Stat. 358 under date of June 16, 1866. Ratification was probably completed on July 9, 1868, when the legislature of the twenty-eighth state (South Carolina or Louisiana) approved the Amendment, there being then thirty-seven states in the Union. However, Ohio and New Jersey had prior to that date withdrawn their earlier assent to this Amendment. Accordingly, Secretary of State William Seward on July 20, 1868, certified that the Amendment had become a part of the Constitution if the said withdrawals were ineffective.^[8] Congress on July 21, 1868, passed a joint resolution declaring the Amendment a part of the Constitution and directing the Secretary to promulgate it as such. On July 28, 1868, Secretary Seward certified without reservation that the Amendment was a part of the Constitution. In the interim, two other states, Alabama on July 13 and Georgia on July 21, 1868, had added their ratifications.

The several state legislatures ratified the Fourteenth Amendment on the following dates: Connecticut, June 30, 1866; New Hampshire, July 7, 1866; Tennessee, July 9, 1866; New Jersey, September 11, 1866 (the New Jersey Legislature on February 20, 1868, withdrew its consent to the ratification; the Governor vetoed that bill on March 5, 1868; and it was repassed over his veto on March 24, 1868); Oregon, September 19, 1866 (Oregon withdrew its consent on October 15, 1868); Vermont, October 30, 1866; New York, January 10, 1867; Ohio, January 11, 1867 (Ohio withdrew its consent on January 15, 1868); Illinois, January 15, 1867; West Virginia, January 16, 1867; Michigan, January 16, 1867; Kansas, January 17, 1867; Minnesota, January 17, 1867; Maine, January 19, 1867; Nevada, January 22, 1867; Indiana, January 23, 1867; Missouri, January 26, 1867 (date on which it was certified by the Missouri secretary of state); Rhode Island, February 7, 1867; Pennsylvania, February 12, 1867; Wisconsin, February 13, 1867 (actually passed February 7, but was not signed by legislative officers until February 13); Massachusetts, March 20, 1867; Nebraska, June 15, 1867; Iowa, March 9, 1868; Arkansas, April 6, 1868; Florida, June 9, 1868; North Carolina, July 2, 1868 (after having rejected the Amendment on December 13, 1866); Louisiana, July 9, 1868 (after having rejected the Amendment on February 6, 1867); South Carolina, July 8, 1868 (after having rejected the Amendment on December 20, 1866); Alabama, July 13, 1868 (date on which it was approved by the Governor); Georgia, July 21, 1868 (after having rejected the Amendment on November 9, 1866—Georgia ratified again on February 2, 1870); Virginia, October 8, 1869 (after having rejected the Amendment on January 9, 1867); Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870 (after having rejected the Amendment on October 27, 1866); Delaware, February 12, 1901 (after having rejected the Amendment February 7, 1867). The Amendment was rejected (and not subsequently ratified) by Kentucky on January 8, 1867. Maryland and California ratified this Amendment in 1959.

Amendment XV.

Section 1

The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of race, color, or previous condition of servitude–

Section 2

The Congress shall have the power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.

The Fifteenth Amendment^[9] was proposed by Congress on February 26, 1869 when it passed the Senate,^[10] having previously passed the House on February 25.^[11] It appears officially in 15 Stat. 346 under the date of February 27, 1869. Ratification was probably completed on February 3, 1870, when the legislature of the twenty-eighth state (Iowa) approved the Amendment, there being then thirty-seven states in the Union. However, New York had prior to that date withdrawn its earlier assent to this Amendment. Even if this withdrawal were effective, Nebraska’s ratification on February 17, 1870, authorized Secretary of State Hamilton Fish’s certification of March 30, 1870, that the Fifteenth Amendment had become a part of the Constitution.^[12]

The several state legislatures ratified the Fifteenth Amendment on the following dates: Nevada, March 1, 1869; West Virginia, March 3, 1869; North Carolina, March 5, 1869; Louisiana, March 5, 1869 (date on which it was approved by the Governor); Illinois, March 5, 1869; Michigan, March 5, 1869; Wisconsin, March 5, 1869; Maine, March 11, 1869; Massachusetts, March 12, 1869; South Carolina, March 15, 1869; Arkansas, March 15, 1869; Pennsylvania, March 25, 1869; New York, April 14, 1869 (New York withdrew its consent to the ratification on January 5, 1870); Indiana, March 14, 1869; Connecticut, May 19, 1869; Florida, June 14, 1869; New Hampshire, July 1, 1869; Virginia, October 8, 1869; Vermont, October 20, 1869; Alabama, November 16, 1869; Missouri, January 7, 1870 (Missouri had ratified the first section of the Fifteenth Amendment on March 1, 1869; it failed to include in its ratification the second section of the Amendment); Minnesota, January 13, 1870; Mississippi, January 17, 1870; Rhode Island, January 18, 1870; Kansas, January 19, 1870 (Kansas had by a defectively worded resolution previously ratified this Amendment on February 27, 1869); Ohio, January 27, 1870 (after having rejected the Amendment on May 4, 1869); Georgia, February 2, 1870; Iowa, February 3, 1870; Nebraska, February 17, 1870; Texas, February 18, 1870; New Jersey, February 15, 1871 (after having rejected the Amendment on February 7, 1870); Delaware, February 12, 1901 (date on which approved by Governor; Delaware had previously rejected the Amendment on March 18, 1869). The Amendment was rejected (and was not subsequently ratified) by Kentucky, Maryland, and Tennessee. California ratified this Amendment in 1962 and Oregon in 1959.

References in the original work

1. Amdt13.1 Overview of Thirteenth Amendment, Abolition of Slavery.
2. Cong. Globe, 38th Cong., 2d Sess. 531 (1865).
3. Cong. Globe, 38th Cong., 1st Sess. 1940 (1865).
4. 13 Stat. 774.
5. Amdt14.1 Overview of Fourteenth Amendment, Equal Protection and Rights of Citizens.
6. Cong. Globe, 39th Cong., 1st Sess. 3148, 3149 (1866).
7. Id. at 3042.
8. 15 Stat. 706–07.
9. Amdt15.1 Overview of Fifteenth Amendment, Right of Citizens to Vote.
10. Cong. Globe, 40th Cong., 3d Sess. 1641 (1869).
11. Id. at 1563–64.
12. 16 Stat. 1131.